[Coral-List] Coral Reef Curmudgeons Unite!

Tom Williams ctwiliams at yahoo.com
Sun Feb 21 12:35:04 EST 2010


Jim

Thanks for your persistence, your help, and your views which have kept me watching and contributing to this list whenever I thought appropriate...

Yes, this is suppose to be for the techie/science sides but as you and others point our...science needs to be applied...often in politico environ.

Thanks for the views and the uniting approach...Anyone out there that wants to protect the corals without reef balls??

Tom

--- On Sun, 2/21/10, Jim Hendee <jim.hendee at noaa.gov> wrote:

> From: Jim Hendee <jim.hendee at noaa.gov>
> Subject: [Coral-List] Coral Reef Curmudgeons Unite!
> To: "Coral-List Subscribers" <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> Date: Sunday, February 21, 2010, 7:54 AM
> Aloha, Coral-Listers!
> 
>      You may have wondered sometimes at
> the decision-making process on 
> how one post gets through, while another gets
> quashed.  In this corner, 
> there are no hard-and-fast rules, just general guidelines,
> which are 
> stated on the Coral-List info page 
> <http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list>.   Sometimes
> 
> repeat transgressions, shall we say, are what may stop a
> post.  
> Sometimes a post goes through even though it may seem
> inflammatory, 
> while another view may show it to be a refreshing new
> perspective.  I 
> sometimes goof big time.
> 
>      It's hard not to let personalities
> and our personal passions become 
> part of what we do professionally--for most of us, that's
> why we do it.  
> I reckon pure science should be utterly passionless, but
> implementing 
> science via funding agencies means we are ruled by
> politics, which 
> obviously are not passionless--quite the opposite; and we
> all have to 
> deal with each other.  Throw into the mix the obvious
> nature of some big 
> egos and it can really foul things up.  So we have
> this continual train 
> wreck of the scientists and conservationists, the
> glory-hoggers, and the 
> politicians, and everybody trying to get their own way.
> 
>      Now, some of the shortcomings of
> this particular U.S. Government 
> run Coral-List are that you can't lobby Congress, you can't
> call each 
> other nasty names, you can't send pictures and attachments,
> and 
> generally everybody has to be nice.  However, I have
> recently been 
> reminded of the Patrick Swayze quote in the movie /Road
> House/:  "I want 
> you to be nice...until it's time to /not/ be nice." 
> And so I am most 
> seriously suggesting that "somebody" (not me!) consider
> starting a Coral 
> Reef Curmudgeons (or Coral Reef Politics, or whatever) list
> using, say 
> Yahoo Groups.  There you can call each other dirty
> rotten scoundrels, 
> you can post all kids of illustrative or condemning
> pictures, you can 
> say whichever U.S. or state government agency is doing a
> rotten job 
> because so-and-so let his ego get in the way (or whatever),
> you can say 
> Dr. Blackshark falsified his results, you can say global
> warming is a 
> big liberal tree-hugging hoax manufactured to keep
> scientists employed, 
> you can post sarcasm intended to embarrass or provoke, or
> that all Dr. 
> Blackshark's research money is going to buy junkets to Bali
> in the name 
> of some dubious research pretext.  Such a list might
> be refreshing, 
> humorous, illuminating and actually useful in letting off
> steam.  New 
> friendships and enemies will be made, people may get
> embarrassed or feel 
> vindicated, and havoc may result, but some of the truths
> may enlighten 
> us all.  It would be a true, free-wheelin' list to say
> what you think 
> without government censorship.  It's just an idea to
> consider.
> 
>      Cheers,
>      Jim
> 
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